A plague on all their houses

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/wythenshawe-byelection-labour-hold-seat-as-ukip-surge-from-fifth-to-second-place-9127405.html

Wythenshawe by-election: Labour hold seat as Ukip surge from fifth to second place

Labour Party candidate Mike Kane, tops the poll..

There is only one statistic that the political parties should be concerned about.
From a total electorate of more than 85,000 people eligible to vote, the turn out was only 28% and of those, the "winning" candidate received 0nly 13,261 votes.
Since 1945, it has usually been the case that the turn out for a by election has been significantly higher than 30%, averaging around 48% although in recent years, the number of people voting at any form of election for Westminster, has been rapidly declining.
The "major parties" (and UKIP) should be asking themselves questions as to why, in these times of austerity, only 23,000 people actually bother to go to the polling stations to cast their votes. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that many people, not only in Wythenshawe and Sale East, but in constituencies all around the country, feel that when it comes to elections for Westminster, there is no real choice between the parties as all are promising the same policies with only marginal differences in degree.

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